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I've only just begun, if I can even say that, it's so...minute. That's a better word, actually. I've only minutely begun, and already I'm visited by doubt with each decision. Doubt and I have gotten to know each other quite well over time, so I'm pretty familiar with its face. Only certain events invite its presence, and something like starting to build a house on wheels seems like one of those situations it would naturally gravitate toward. So here we are, together, minutely starting to build a house.

And this is the first element of minutiae: screw removal. Almost 300 of them, to be precise, and the question that lingers is: why? The thought "don't work harder than you have to" is keeping doubt company through this introductory exercise, but easier options aren't necessarily better choices. The purchased trailer came with the treated 1x lumber in this photo, which is great, but not necessarily directly underneath where I will be brewing coffee every morning (would you like milk with that? sugar? maybe a little arsenic?). But more to the immediate point, it would be difficult to insulate from underneath, and I want to add radiant tubing to the mix. Height is a limiting factor, so the floor sandwich has to remain as compressed as possible.

So my solution is to remove the 1x's, and build it like this detail here:

The Floor as a Sammich

But with each screw tossed into its temporary holding bin, that solution seemed less and less obvious. Doubt has officially received, and accepted, its dinner invitation. Am I making unnecessary work? Won't this wood off-gas enough before I occupy the space above it? (sorry earth) And would it really be that hard to install insulation from below? And, to top it off, what's the best way to waterproof this thing?? Hey architects, builders, and general know-howers: how would you do it?